Prologue
The continent of Stalmir is at peace. After centuries of war, beings of all races, be they human, monster, or otherwise, have laid down their arms to compete in ways heedless of their prior disregard of life. While some animosity remains, the advent of newer technologies and advancements has led to better ways for these beings to spend their time.
Like sailing the deep blue seas that surround them, for example.
The human nation of Tawken, known to all as the catalyst of all these changes, had developed a prototype seafaring vessel, dubbed 'The Arrowhead', in the decades following the final years of constant war. It's maiden voyage, with men and women who had since become weary with the peace of life thereafter, was a huge success. When the ship returned a few years later with plants and animals never before seen by those on Stalmir, every nation on the continent was thrown into chaos. Eager to stake their claim in what the original sailors claimed to be 'a new land full of strange life,' the leaders gathered once more in the capital of Tawken to discuss the issue at hand. In essence, though, it was nothing more than an attempt to pressure the humans in order to obtain the knowledge to create more of these ships.
What nobody expected, though, was the human king's proposal.
"My fellow leaders, instead of desperately bidding for the designs for this new technology, why not let us cooperate before you seek to expand? Let us send off our countrymen, our people, as one group to this new land; let them create a singular port, under control by none of us, so that you may guarantee a safe point from which you may grow your empires? If this succeeds, then I shall give these plans out to all of you. No cost shall be made thereafter. Would this not be beneficial to all of you moreso than it would me?"
The leaders, of course, were shocked; even if the era of war was over, each was ready to wage their own war... Well, war of a more economic nature. The king of Tawken was known to be abnormally strange, but in the end there was a reason as to why everything ended as they did.
Negotiations continued, until at last a compromise was found. Each nation would send a group of settlers to Tawken in a year's time, with whatever goods they wished, and the voyage would commence soon thereafter. Once the port on the other side of the ocean was set up, some group onboard would return with the news, and the human king would henceforth release the information everyone else so desired. If nobody did so in three years' time, then the king would be forced to release the information regardless. Though not all sides agreed to the resolution, those that did (the human king included) signed a magical contract that bound them to their word. And thus, the meeting ended without incident.
A year afterwards, the representatives sent by each of the approving nations gathered at the port town of Lezan, at the western end of the continent where 'The Arrowhead' had originally set forth on its journey. These beings, many of whom were prospective settlers to take this new land, set forth on the ship, now improved in the time following its return. Their journey was to be a grand spectacle, and though each nation would have to wait a while longer, they could at the very least preserve their relations with the nation of Tawken. Humans did, after all, have a way with being creatively insane, and it would do no good to have them removed from the world.
Not all things go as planned, though; nearing their destination, the group about 'The Arrowhead' met with a freak storm en route to their destination. The ship, which was unprepared for the ordeal, tossed and turned about, until finally...
It capsized.
The morning after, the shipwreck (or part of it, at least) washed up on the shores of this new continent. A multitude of survivors, too, found themselves waking up with a face full of sand.
Will they be able to make this new land their home and succeed in their goal, even with this monumental setback? This is, after all, no longer about politics or nations.
This is about their survival, and their lives.
Well, at the title (and the prologue) clearly state, this RP is a FANTASY SURVIVAL RP... But, well, with a few twists.
First off: I've left a LOT of the nations blank, save the humans. This is to allow people to drag whatever generic race of fantasy beings they want into the RP... That make sense, of course. Why would something like a dragon, for example, want to ride on a boat?
That brings me to my next point: MONSTERS ARE PEOPLE TOO. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. 'Monster' is a tag that we use to denote beings that generally aren't friendly to humans and their allies, but this is a situation where they're NOT hostile. Things like ogres and orcs and goblins and stuff? Yeah, they can on board. Not everyone's gonna like them, but they've reached at least some degree of understanding by now. As long as they're not feral or whatever, it should be fine.
Just don't try eating your fellow survivors or anything. Things don't work well if that sort of thing happens.
Next: If you want to play one of the races mentioned above, it's recommended that you write out some sort of lore about the nation they're from. I don't care the origins in OUR world, but this fantasy world works by its own rules.
Also, the Tawken humans aren't the only humans out there. Just saying.
By the way, this also means that you're free to make a character from a race that's not generally seen in Western mythos. Oni and other such youkai are the easiest examples to place, but there's nothing wrong with taking liberties with a race of generally bestial race, either. It's not like a lot of recent media hasn't done that, anyhow.
Following that... The technology of this world is, as expected, about early Age of Exploration-level, if comparing it to that of our world's; the only exception is that guns aren't anywhere near as prevalent... And, if you couldn't tell already, the RP is based heavily upon that era of human history. Magic exists, but there are two real 'types': innate and catalyst-based.
Innate magic is based on race: some races, obviously enough, have a higher affinity for the mana in the atmosphere than others. This magic is generally weaker than catalyst-based magic, and thus is used more in domestic situations or things based on the user's craft. This is also MUCH rarer in the world at large.
Catalyst-based magic uses crystallized mana, which is formed under certain specific conditions (which I'm not gonna disclose right now) in order to achieve a desired effect. Crystallized mana can either be 'pure' or have an element affiliated with it, which will determine what it can and cannot do. The larger the crystal, the more it can accomplish. When fully depleted, these mana crystals can be replenished, but only with the same-natured mana (unless it us pure, in which case it is effectively a blank slate).
Finally: This continent is not the platform for your everyday survival. Things are not going to be easy.
In fact, Mother Nature's going to be a hell of a lot more sadistic here. Each day will bring around a new challenge, and it's up to YOU GUYS (the RPers) to find ways to circumvent and/or overcome them.
Oh right, and with this being a new continent and all, only the people who came around the first time will have any clue about the area, seeing as how they picked it out at all. They were only around for about a season at absolute best, though, so there's still the other 3 to worry about.
I shouldn't need to worry that much about rules otherwise, I think; there's the standard PG-13 rules (no problems with relationships, etc;), no Sues/Stus/godmodding/powerplaying/etc;...
Oh, right. Remember how I said Mother Nature was gonna be sadistic in the last paragraph up there? Be prepared to have your characters deal with hell of a lot of crap in the near future. They can get hurt, sick, etc;. But I won't kill them or cripple them without a player's permission, obviously. Just be aware that survival is sure as hell not going to be a breeze. I would say 'not for the faint of heart', but if you're still here, I guess you can already see that.
I'm not going to be a complete sadist GM, though. That's just frustrating to deal with. There's going to be a lot more than just survival in the RP after a while, so don't expect to have to be dealing with the struggles thereof all the time.
So, one thing I need to mention here for the sake of convenience: The characters will start with the shipwreck nearby to salvage from. The 'salvaged item' in the form below is not counted among the following items, so no need to worry too much about what follows. Pick something else that isn't too... Absurd for the situation. Like, no super-value tools or items or anything. In the end, I'll be the judge of what goes and what doesn't, after all.
Starting Items (Group): Two days' worth of rations for however many people survived, a set of seeds for wheat, barley, soybeans, and rice (enough for a quarter of a 10' x 10' of land each, though remember that each crop grows under different conditions), and a small fire mana crystal, approx. 1 cubic inch in size.
Any questions? Problems? Things left unanswered? Let me know if any of these issues pop up.
